Guild of San Marcos Forum

Mark:

You and I have been having an ongoing discussion about Personal Agendas, and I'd thought I'd review some of the points in under this topic.

You had mentioned that Personal Agendas covered initiatives for both Backgrounds and also for Secret Societies. Therefore, it would seem that my character has some duplication by having both "Invisible College" and "Obligation". In fact, for my character, Obligation is a sub-part of Invisible College.

Since I would be able to participate in Personal Agendas for both under Invisible College, how about if I do away with the Background entirely and use the 3 HP elsewhere?

Mike, I split this off so I can keep the stickied thread at the top. (I'll make sure to add generic information to the stickied thread).

As for Sister Sonya, you certainly could skip the background and use the points elsewhere. But keep in mind that the Secret Society, by-invitation-only adventures will be fewer and farther in-between. In addition, they won't (or shouldn't) interfere with your background.

So, having given Personal Agendas some more thought, here's a rough draft of what will happen.

First Half - Duels, Backgrounds, Gossip, Intrigue, Inventing*, New Purchases, Looking into joining/accepting an invitation to join a Secret Society, essentially anything you want/need your PC to do separate from other events...

Second Half - Town-related adventure. Could be something funny, something interesting, worrisome, dangerous, or whatever. What it won't be is anything related to the long-term adventures (thus, since they'll only be run once, you won't be required to know the outcome in order to solve the larger plot).

I'm imagining that if they become popular enough we'll do a split-the-charcters kind of thing where some players play first half then second half and others will do that the other way around (that way I don't have to come up with two adventures per Personal Agenda).

Mark

*NOTE: If you plan for your invention to be an Invention in the sense that it's creation causes problems/interest/intrigue, then you really want the Background, Invention. Doing your invention without the background points just creates a personal toy for you...

Black Jack Rackham wrote:*NOTE: If you plan for your invention to be an Invention in the sense that it's creation causes problems/interest/intrigue, then you really want the Background, Invention. Doing your invention without the background points just creates a personal toy for you...

So, I believe I understand where this is leading... and it makes a lot of sense for my character as well as for the Campaign itself. And so, what will the difference be between "Invention-1" and "Invention-3" in terms actually of inventing things and/or gaining background XP?

Simply the amount of time it takes you to resolve the background. Every hour long session you play a background you get an extra 1xp (above and beyond the usual 4 per game session). Background 1 means you spend 1hp or 3xp, and I'm planning on a "double your money (or in this case xp) back" plan. So, with 1xp gained per session, it'll take 6 sessions to resolve. Background 2 would be 12; 3, 18. I'm figuring most folks will go with the background 1 just so they can remember where in the background resolution they are...

Now that I think about this, I probably should add this to the background explaination.

Mark

And now, I am confused again! As you may remember from my description of "Sonya", she has lots of irons in the fire at any one time, and is not always the most organized.

What if she has several inventions that she is working on at any one time? Some may take time, weeks or even months to develop, and be dependent upon the actions of other players or NPCs.

Others, as you may remember from Crimson Valor, are one-shots, like my character Trygve composing a little ditty to enhance (or defame) the reputation of another player character.

Perhaps I should wait, before this discussion gets more complicated that most players will want to bother with, and we can speak about this face-to-face at Origins 2011? My characters tend to be complicated, and always need tweaking from time to time...

The number of inventions is irrelevant. The Background: Invention specifies that it's "an" invention. So one of them is a problem (for both Sonya and the world) and the others are, the others. Trygve's ditty would be an example of the latter. If you want them all to be a problem take more than one Background...

Again, Mike I think you're way overthinking this. Don't fret so much, I can handle whatever you throw at me.

Mark

Black Jack Rackham wrote:Again, Mike I think you're way overthinking this. Don't fret so much, I can handle whatever you throw at me.
Mark

Gee, Mark, overthinking is my way of defining and refining my characters.

Instead of choosing an Invention-3, my solution may be to opt for both Invention-1 and Invention-2. In that way, for example, Sonya might "create" new identity papers or a real property deed with Invention-1 and install a new steam-powered pipe organ in the Cathedral with Invention-2.

Or if you'd like more you can take three "Invention 1"s. But again don't fret I have already come up with 4 separate storylines just you...

Mark

I vote for the steam-powered pipe organ. And possibly a steam-powered butler. Steam-powered butlers on pirate ships are epic. Essentially when they attempt a mutiny and throw your character over-board. Then come the sharks. What were we talking about again?

Pirated wrote:I vote for the steam-powered pipe organ. And possibly a steam-powered butler. Steam-powered butlers on pirate ships are epic. Essentially when they attempt a mutiny and throw your character over-board. Then come the sharks. What were we talking about again?

Was this http://dmd.comicgenesis.com/d/20090830.html perhaps what you were referring to?
Mark

Mike,
I'm finalizing all the events that will make up individual backgrounds and I want to make sure I am fulfilling your current background(s). I have it as Invention 1 (x2) correct? (that'd be Invention 1 and another Invention 1). So I remember the steam-powered pipe organ, and I think the second invention is related to that, but I'm drawing a blank.

Any help would be appreciated.

Mark

Mark: sorry if I've left you up in the air! I'll get back on this soon, with Origins coming up (even though I'm sure you have more than enough for Sonya to do).

Sister Sonya wrote: ...even though I'm sure you have more than enough for Sonya to do.

Yup the whole thing is written. But I'll always take more detail.

ADMIN NOTE: I split this off from LG's Background Thread which really ought to be about her background.

Black Jack Rackham wrote:Not to worry LG, I read your Background and came up with something awful...

Awwww! That's not fair! So many players have such neat backgrounds to make life interesting for their characters, and I don't. Boo-hoo!

You picked them, not our fault you grabbed low key options.

I'm perfectly fine if you want my background to make Sonya's life a living hell...

Background envy?

spizio wrote:Background envy?

Heh heh heh.

Seriuous response here:. Mike, should not worry (or worry more), Mark has a very long thread dedicated to the horrible rwists in his background.

salamanca wrote:Seriuous response here:. Mike, should not worry (or worry more), Mark has a very long thread dedicated to the horrible rwists in his background.

DON'T BELIEVE HIM MIKE! I'm winging it the whole time. There is NO evil twist, TRUST ME!




















































Is he gone yet? Good, he fell for it...

Ha! I'll believe it when I see it.

Black Jack Rackham wrote:ADMIN NOTE: Split the rest of this discussion off and attached it to Mike's background since it was really about him.

Fair enough. Sorry LG.

salamanca wrote:You picked them, not our fault you grabbed low key options.

I'm figuring there will be more than enough trouble for Sonya without her going looking for more.

Reacting to the needs of players, such as subcontracting making apparatus for making of mead and to developing the device for Romeo, should expand as the campaign progresses. (It's too bad that most player-characters are being timid about IC discussion here in the forums, for that would provide lots more opportunities.)

I'm certain that she will bump into the Inquisition time and time again.

So, I'm satisfied with Invention-X, and Invention-1 for now. Maybe Inquisition-X is a possibility for later?